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Overview

The Flavius Josephus Collection offers an up-to-date assessment of the life of the great historian and English translations of his key works. Brimming with insight, the five titles critically examine Josephus’ Life, analyze his portrayal of the Pharisees throughout his canon, and present a new English translation of and commentary on his Judean Antiquities. The Flavius Josephus Collection will be an invaluable addition to the libraries of all Biblicists, scholars of ancient Judaism, and anyone wishing to delve deeply into the world of the preeminent Jewish chronicler Josephus.

Few authors have had as much influence on our understanding of the New Testament world as Josephus. His key works, The Antiquities of the Jews, The War of the Jews, Against Apion and the autobiographical Life have for centuries been scoured by scholars for their extensive historical and linguistical yield. These works, written from Josephus’ vantage as a first century Jewish historian and eye-witness to the first Jewish-Roman war, render an unparalleled depiction of the historical context in which Jesus and the Apostles lived and died. The impact Josephus has made on scholarship pertaining to the era of Christ cannot be overstated.

Flavius Josephus: Life of Josephus

Refocusing our attention from the personal character and psychological motives of Josephus (which we cannot know) to the work itself (which is before us), Steve Mason brings this crucial narrative to life in new historical and literary contexts. He shows that it is a carefully structured appendix to Josephus' magnum opus, the Judean Antiquities, and that Josephus uses it to unashamedly celebrate his character according to the values and standards of his time. In the process, Josephus explains much about the geography of Galilee and about the social and political world of Judea in crisis. Most importantly, however, he emerges as a Judean statesman trying to communicate with his peers from other Mediterranean centers.

Steve Mason is Associate Professor of Humanities at Vanier College, York University, Ontario. He is the author of Josephus and the New Testament among other titles.

Flavius Josephus on the Pharisees: A Composition-Critical Study

Author: Steve Mason

Publisher: Brill

Publication Date: 2001

Pages: 424

Mason has answered the call of scholars for a new, critical history of the Pharisees. Required is a careful analysis of each source's evidence as a prior condition of historical judgments. By analyzing Flavius Josephus' portrayal of the group, this study clarifies some of the crucial evidence that any hypothesis must explain.

Josephus writes about the Pharisees in three of his four extant works, describing their actions under the Hashmoneans, Herod the Great, and during his own tenure as Galilean commander of the revolt against Rome. This study tries to show how his discussions of the Pharisees contribute to his literary aims. With the help of K.H. Rengstorf's new concordance, the author explores the ten pertinent passages in their contexts, supplying also introductory chapters on the Jedean War, the Jewish Antiquities, and the Life. This analysis yields the conclusion that, although the Pharisees were the most popular party in first-century Judaism, Josephus was consistently hostile toward them for reasons peculiar to his own situation.

Steve Mason is Associate Professor of Humanities at Vanier College, York University, Ontario. He is the author of Josephus and the New Testament among other titles.

Flavius Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, is unquestionably among the most important writers from classical antiquity. The significance of the works of Josephus as sources for our understanding of biblical history and of the political history of Palestine under Roman rule can scarcely be overestimated.

This is the first volume published in this commentary series, which is the first comprehensive literary-historical commentary on the works of Flavius Josephus in English.

Louis H. Feldman (b.1926) received his BA and MA from Trinity College, Hartford, and his PhD from Harvard. He currently teaches at Yeshiva University. He is the author of Studies in Hellenistic Judaism, Josephus's Interpretation of the Bible, and Josephus and Modern Scholarship (1937-1980) .

This volume provides a new English translation of and commentary on Josephus' Judean Antiquities 5-7 in which he retells the history of Israel from the entry into the land down to the death of King David. The commentary devotes special attention to the ways in which Josephus deals with the data of his biblical sources, i.e. the Books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, and 1 Chronicles. It likewise looks to the question of the biblical text-forms used by Josephus and calls attention to Jewish and Greco-Roman parallels to his presentation. The book is intended primarily for Biblicists and scholars of ancient Judaism.

This is the first volume published in this commentary series, which is the first comprehensive literary-historical commentary on the works of Flavius Josephus in English.

Christopher T. Begg, PhD in Religious Studies, University of Louvain, is Professor of Old Testament at the Catholic University of America. He has published extensively on Josephus’ reworkings of the Bible, including Josephus’ Account of the Early Divided Monarchy and Josephus’ Story of the Later Monarchy.

This volume provides a new English translation and commentary on Josephus' Judean Antiquities 8-10 in which he retells the history of Israel from the time of the latter divided monarchy down through the exilic period. As with the previous titles in this series, the commentary devotes particular attention to Josephus' use of his many biblical sources for this period, e.g., the books of Kings, Chronicles, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah and Nahum and Daniel. Similarly to the previous series titles, the commentary also examines the question of the textual forms of these books used by him, and notes parallels to his presentation in both ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman literature.

Paul Spilsbury, PhD, University of Cambridge, is Professor of New Testament at Alliance University College in Calgary, Alberta. He has published widely on Josephus’ interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, including The Image of the Jew in Flavius Josephus’ Paraphrase of the Bible.